Lagging tax collections not a fluke

“August general fund tax collections were startlingly bad, down $30 million (6.8 percent) from expectations,” former state budget director Duane Goossen wrote. What’s worse, this wasn’t a one-month fluke. Tax collections have missed expectations every month since the last official revenue estimate in April, Goossen noted. Collections for April through June, the last three months of the previous fiscal year, were short by $26 million. Tax collections in the first two months of this fiscal year are already $35 million less than the estimates. “That puts general fund tax revenue $61 million below the assumptions made when the budget passed, wiping out most of the hoped-for ending balance,” Goossen wrote. – Phillip Brownlee